RAMALLAH, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 (WAFA) - Unemployed persons in Palestine decreased to 367,000 in 2022 compared to 372,000 in 2021, about 24% of the labor force participants compared with 26% in 2021, due to the rise in the labor force participation rate to 45% compared with 43% in 2021, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
The unemployment rate decreased in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2022 to become about 13% and 45% respectively compared with about 16% and 47% in 2021.
The total labor underutilization decreased from about 34% in 2021 to 31% (500,000 persons) in 2022, including 56,000 discouraged jobseekers and 22,000 in time-related underemployment.
In the West Bank, Hebron and Jenin Governorates recorded the highest unemployment rate in 2022 with a percentage of about 17%, followed by Bethlehem Governorate at about 15%, while Jerusalem Governorate recorded the lowest unemployment rate with a percentage of about 3%. In the Gaza Strip, Deir al-Balah Governorate recorded the highest unemployment rate of about 55% followed by Khan Yunis Governorate with 49%, while North Gaza Governorate recorded the lowest unemployment rate of about 38%.
The number of employed persons in Palestine reached 1.133 million; 655,000 in the West Bank, 285,000 in Gaza Strip, and 193,000 in Israel and Israeli settlements. There are about 862,000 wage employees in Palestine (449,000 of them in the West Bank, 228,000 in the Gaza Strip, 156,000 in Israel, and 29,000 in the Israeli settlements).
About 54% of wage employees in Palestine are working in the private sector, 327,000 in the West Bank, and 140,000 in Gaza Strip, compared with about 24% of employed persons in the public sector, and 22% of wage employees are working in Israel and Israeli Settlements. Thus, about 29% of wage employees from the West Bank are working in Israel and Israeli settlements.
About 24% of wage employees in the private sector work in elementary occupations and professionals or technicians in Palestine; with a percentage of 27% for males and 8% for females in elementary occupations. In addition, about 15% of male and 68% of female wage employees work in professional or technician occupations.
The real average daily wage (base year= 2018) in the private sector was about 93 Israeli shekels (1 shekel equivalent to $0.28) in Palestine; about 38 shekels in Gaza Strip and about 117 shekels in the West Bank (wage employees in Israel and Israeli settlements are excluded).
The construction activity in the private sector recorded the highest average of real daily wage of 135 shekels in the West Bank and 38 shekels in Gaza Strip, followed by services activity with about 128 shekels in the West Bank and 69 shekels in Gaza Strip. While the agriculture activity recorded the lowest average real daily wage at 89 shekels in the West Bank and 22 shekels in Gaza Strip.
In the same context, the average actual weekly work hours for wage employees in Palestine was 41 hours; 39 hours for wage employees in the public sector, and 43 weekly work hours for wage employees in the private sector.
About 40% of wage employees receive less than the minimum monthly wage of 1,880 shekels in Palestine, said the PCBS, and about 28% of the private sector's wage employees receive benefits (retirement/end-of-service gratuity, paid annual leave and paid sick leave).
About 46% of wage female employees working in the private sector got paid maternity leave.
M.K.
